Theatre@First Presents ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, Now thru 4/12

Theatre@First kicks off their second decade of providing local audiences with superlative live theatre at affordable prices with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Davis Square Theatre, today, April 4-12.

In 2004, a small group decided to put on a show in a church basement in Davis Square. That show was Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and that group has become Theatre@First, Somerville's own community theatre. Now founding Artistic Director Elizabeth Hunter returns to the beginning with a new production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

Tom Stoppard's Tony Award-winning script focuses on two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet, imagining their confusion at being caught up in the tragic plot. Full of some of the greatest wordplay in English drama, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead examines the meaning of death and the questions of life from an absurdist perspective that leaves audiences laughing at their own folly and gasping at the truths revealed.

Local favorite Jason Merrill returns to the Theatre@First stage as Rosencrantz, with Mike Haddad as Guildenstern and Johnbarry Green in a colorful performance as the Lead Player. The supporting cast of characters from Hamlet is made up of exciting newcomers and familiar faces, including Mare Freed, reprising her role as a Tragedian ten years later.

Over the past decade, Theatre@First has produced more than thirty mainstage shows, as well as cabarets, Shakespeare slams, and a popular series of staged readings. More than 500 people have worked with the organization in that time, while audiences have swelled to more than a thousand per show. After regularly performing at Unity Somerville and the Somerville Theatre, as well as bringing Shakespeare to Seven Hills Park, Theatre@First is performing for the first time this year at the Davis Square Theatre and partnering with Foundry and Saloon to offer food and ticket discounts for patrons.

For tickets and more information about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Theatre@First, visit www.theatreatfirst.org.